Behavioral Ecology & Animal Conservation

In the Zink lab we focus on the evolutionary and ecological processes generating the broad diversity of animal behavior, with direct applications to animal conservation. With a general interest in social behaviors such as parental care, brood parasitism and cooperative breeding, we also investigate how these behaviors influence disease dynamics and the transmission of beneficial bacteria. Our general approach is to develop mathematical models that are applicable to a broad range of animals and to test the predictions of these (and other) models using laboratory and field experiments.